Here is what they said after the Hawks’ 105-79 loss to the Spurs Friday night:
“Obviously a very, very good performance by San Antonio. They did a lot of things well. It wasn’t a good night for us, really on either end. I’m mostly concerned with our group putting this in the rear-view mirror and moving forward and preparing and getting ready to compete going forward.”
- Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer’s opening statement
“I think they also started well and played well out of the gate. Paul was attacking the basket and couldn’t get anything to go. We couldn’t get to the free-throw line. They were executing and making shots. I think a lot of the credit goes to them. If we could have hit a couple buckets, particularly when we were attacking and getting to the basket, that would have helped us stem the tide a little bit.”
- Budenholzer on whether injuries played part in slow start
“No comment.”
- Budenholzer on whether he was unhappy with officiating
“It’s just like when any of our guys get injured. You feel for the player. He wants to be there for us. He wants to be there for his teammates. He is a big part of what we do. It’s an opportunity for Shelvin (Mack) and Lou (Williams) and Dennis (Schroder) to take that responsibility that Jeff has as our starting point guard and lead us and direct us. I think Shelvin has played well. Lou’s assists, I think he is really distributing the ball well. A lot of the responsibility is going to fall on those guys. We’ll hope that Jeff recovers quickly. I’m sure that they will do everything they can in his absence.
- Budenholzer on loss of Jeff Teague
“Nobody else in the league cares if there is a mounting toll or whatever our injury situation is. There are a lot of teams dealing with similar situations. You have to find a will and a competitiveness. Those guys have been working hard. It’s their turn, their opportunity, and it’s up to us to keep moving forward.”
- Budenholzer on mounting injuries
“They played really well. We had a hard time getting open looks. We couldn’t get in a rhythm on offense. They were getting stops and running on us. They are a good team. They have a lot of good pieces. They play great team basketball. Their bench played amazing knocking down 3’s and really opening things up. It was a tough game for us.”
- Kyle Korver on game
“We have to find a way. Teams we are playing against aren’t going to feel sorry for us. Shelvin has to step up. He’s very capable of that. As a team, we have to play better. We have to execute. We have to play with more energy. If we do that, we are going to be fine.”
- Korver on Teague injury
“We just didn’t have any rhythm. That’s probably some of it but everyone here knows our plays and knows our sets. I thought we were playing fairly hard. We just weren’t necessarily playing that smart. We got ourselves in a hole in the beginning.”
- Korver on whether injuries played a part in slow start
“Another shot and I plan on playing my game, playing the way I have been, minus tonight. I’m going to come in and play with some pace and try to make the right play.”
- Shelvin Mack on taking over for injured Teague
“They just outworked us from the get-go. It was one of those games where we couldn’t find any energy to get going. We’ll come out and play hard tomorrow. We’ve got another game.”
- Mack on difference in game
“Everyone is not used to playing together in certain situations. It’s still no excuse. We have to play hard and compete.”
- Mack on whether injuries played a part in slow start
“Jeff is our second leading scorer so far. For him to go down, it just makes our jobs a little tougher.”
- Lou Williams on loss of Teague
“Just keep fighting. I think the two years that I’ve been here we haven’t been healthy yet and we’ve been able to fight through it. So, this is no different. Jeff goes out and hopefully it’s a minor thing where we can get through it within the next week. Guys have to put their best games together.”
- Williams on mindset of team with mounting injuries
“I think that one, you give the credit to San Antonio. They just put together 48 minutes of great basketball. We didn’t play our best basketball and it showed.”
- Williams on game
“(The Hawks) really had a bad night and they had too many guys hurt. It’s tough to compete that way. Even when Al (Horford) went down they stuck with it, and everybody filled in and did a good job. Now this happens to Jeff (Teague) and (DeMarre) Carroll. There are too many good teams and too much talent in the NBA to lose guys of that caliber.”
- Spurs coach Gregg Popovich on Hawks’ injuries
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